Bush's UN choice scorched, still alive

Ex-intelligence chief: Bolton was abusive, vindictive to aides

April 13, 2005|By Mike Dorning, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — A former chief of the State Department's intelligence bureau Tuesday offered a vivid portrait of UN ambassador nominee John Bolton as an abusive and vindictive boss who sought to manipulate intelligence on biological weapons with threats against an espionage analyst and later sought to have the analyst fired.

Carl Ford Jr., a former assistant secretary of state for intelligence in the Bush administration, described Bolton, a high-level arms-control official in the State Department, as "a serial abuser" and "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy."

Witness `a loyal Republican'

Ford, a self-described "loyal Republican," said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton's efforts to intimidate the analyst, Christian Westermann, rapidly sent a chill through the State Department's intelligence bureaucracy, although he said higher-ups countered the impact by backing the analyst, who did not waver under pressure.

Despite Ford's testimony, Bolton, 56, appeared on track for confirmation. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), considered the swing vote on the 18-member committee, said he is "still inclined" to vote for confirmation.

Chafee said Ford's remarks were "strong testimony, and I don't doubt its veracity." But, he added, "I see the bar as very high" to reject a presidential nominee.

The Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a meeting for Thursday and could vote on the nomination then.

Panel Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said "the paramount issue" in considering the nomination is President Bush's confidence in Bolton and the energy that the nominee would bring to efforts to reform the United Nations. The institution has been embroiled in scandal by disclosures of large-scale corruption in the UN-administered Iraq oil-for-food program.

Democrats, citing a second case in which Bolton allegedly tried to retaliate against an intelligence analyst who disagreed with him, argued that his conduct demonstrated a pattern of attempting to distort intelligence for political purposes. They sought to tie the conduct to the inaccurate intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction released by the Bush administration during the run-up to the war in Iraq.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) asserted that such actions are "exactly what got us in trouble with the Iraq war and in the United Nations."

Secretary of State Colin Powell made a high-profile presentation to the UN in February 2003 asserting Iraq used mobile biological weapons labs. The claim turned out to be inaccurate--based on information from a single, discredited defector.

Ford's testimony focused on Bolton's reaction when intelligence analysts required that he tone down claims in a 2002 speech he wanted to make warning that Cuba was mounting a biological weapons program and spreading the fruits to rogue nations. Bolton only received approval to claim Cuba possessed a "limited" program to "research" biological weapons and was exporting "dual-use" technology that could have legitimate purposes but also might be used for germ warfare.

State Department policy requires that officials gain prior approval from espionage analysts before making public claims about intelligence findings.

Bolton, an undersecretary of state and one of the department's top officials, responded by summoning Westermann to his office and subjecting the analyst to a red-faced, finger-waving tirade, Ford said. Westermann "was clearly shaken when I saw him, and this was several days after the event," Ford said. "He then said he was worried about his job. He was fearful, and I think rightly so."

Given the huge disparity in their ranks, "it was like an 800-pound gorilla devouring a banana," Ford added.

Soon afterward, Bolton and Ford had a heated encounter in the hallway in which Bolton asked that the analyst be dismissed, Ford said.

"I left that meeting with the perception that for the first time I had been asked to fire an intelligence analyst for what he said," Ford said.

Bolton gave different account

Bolton gave contradictory testimony Monday, saying he told superiors that he "lost trust" in Westermann and, in a different instance, an intelligence analyst from another agency. But he said he never asked that they be dismissed or disciplined.

Ford said that word of Bolton's tirade against Westermann "spread like wildfire" among intelligence analysts at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and left many analysts fearful that they might lose their jobs if they angered Bolton.

But Ford said he promptly notified the State Department's top officials and they offered their support for Westermann. Powell soon afterward spoke to an assembly of intelligence analysts and publicly congratulated Westermann for his performance, a signal that provided reassurance to analysts in the department, Ford said.

Ford said it was "awkward" to speak against a Republican nominee and testified only after "a lot of soul-searching." But he said, "I have never seen anyone quite like Mr. Bolton. He abuses his authority with little people."